


President Madeline

by Dante8



Category: Original Work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-30
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:21:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26199247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dante8/pseuds/Dante8
Summary: Fiction about a female president.
Kudos: 1





	President Madeline

President Madeline Jane Suzuki was the third female president in American history, but was a first in many respects. She was the first openly lesbian American president, the first openly atheist American president, and the first Asian-American president (having been born in the United States to Japanese parents.) These firsts had led to other firsts - for example, when she was inaugurated president in 2025, she had become the first American president to have the head of the American Atheists speak at her inauguration. In regard to her being the first openly lesbian president, she believed it was why she had put a stop to the unofficial duties of the First Lady, knowing herself how harmful it would be for a woman to be expected to give up their career to serve their partner's needs. Rather, in her administration the fact that Katherine Harper was the First Lady meant nothing more or less than that Katherine Sara Harper was married to Madeline Suzuki, and did not give Katherine any special duties or unearned, and therefore in her view undeserved, rights (beyond the extra security required of any public figure prominently associated with the administration.) Such duties as had previously usually fallen to the First Lady because she was the First Lady now fell to the White House Social Director, and other such relevant White House staff. This left Katherine time to pursue her career as a painter, which she did. Katherine submitted her art for consideration under various pseudonyms, so that there would be no possibility of her being unfairly favored or disfavored due to her being the First Lady. However, the pseudonyms she used were always female, as she disliked the idea of a man wrongly getting credit for what she had created. She also disliked the idea of some names being only used for women and others only used for men, but she thought that was rather unassailable, at least from her position.  


Madeline thought of these things as she drummed her fingernails on the tabletop. She had not yet picked out her clothes for the day, and began contemplating her closet while wearing her pajamas. Clothes were still a fraught subject for a female president. Though she might have engaged the services of a stylist, she preferred not to, though she admitted it was difficult to choose clothes herself considering her position. One had to be careful to project an image of strength and toughness, appropriate for an American president, without being seen by the electorate as unappealingly manly. Ideally clothes would not be seen as inherently feminine or masculine, and women would not be judged for their clothing choices any more than others were – but then, sadly, we do not live in an ideal world, thought Madeline. As a liberal Democrat who was noted for her environmental policies, she often went with green as a symbolic color, which she also thought looked nice with the color of her hair, skin, and eyes. She hadn’t worn green too much lately, and so decided wearing it today would be suitable.  


The next big decision was whether to wear a dress or a suit; all other options were not considered formal enough for the presidency. As today she had no meetings with other leaders it was not necessary to dress in a way that traditionally connoted strength, so with that in mind she decided to choose a dress, while deploring the fact that clothing traditionally considered feminine did not connote strength for that very reason. The dress was hunter green, Madeline’s favorite color, and it was long enough that she would not be criticized for wearing it without pantyhose. She found pantyhose dreadfully uncomfortable, and was always catching it on things and getting a run in it. She therefore changed into the dress, and surveyed herself critically in the mirror. She never liked wearing makeup, and therefore refused to wear it, reasoning that if men’s faces were acceptable without makeup then women’s should be as well. She did like jewelry, however, and carefully picked out a few treasured items to wear, namely a Rolex watch and a silver necklace. She had styled her hair as most female politicians did and were pressured to do – a short cut reaching the jawline, parted in front and coiffed expertly with mousse or hair net (in her case mousse) and swept towards the edge of the jaw. She smiled approvingly in the mirror and went out to face the day.


End file.
